Conway, AR – The Baum Gallery of Fine Art at the University of Central Arkansas opens its fall season with three new exhibitions: Maysey Craddock: Angle of Repose, Jennifer Shaw Nature/Nurture and Relics and Artistic Eye: Works from the Personal Collections of the UCA Art Faculty opening Thursday, Sept. 5, and on display through Sunday, Oct. 27.

A public reception for the exhibitions will be held Thursday, Sept. 5 from 5-7 p.m.

This set of three exhibitions includes solo shows by two contemporary artists and a special exhibition curated by the Baum, titled Artistic Eye, featuring works from the personal collections of the UCA Art Faculty.

Maysey Craddock: Angle of Repose is a collection of the Memphis-based artist’s most recent paintings focused on the ruins of a 13th century Estonian church. Craddock’s watercolor and gouache paintings, often painted on stitched together paper grocery bags, are based on her own photographs. The images in Angle of Repose present a world that has been destroyed by unknown forces.

“To me these paintings are beautiful renderings of destruction,” Baum Director Barclay McConnell said. “The majority of the works are large in scale, adding to the impact of the imagery.”

Craddock, who has a concurrent solo exhibition at the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, will give a free public lecture on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 1:40 p.m. in McCastlain Hall room 143.

Jennifer Shaw is aNew Orleans- based photographer and art teacher who uses film cameras and traditional darkroom techniques. Her series Nature/Nurture consists of black and white photographs which highlight minute details of the natural world in intimate images of flora and fauna. In this series, Shaw presents a collection of photographs that serve as a sort of catalogue of the natural world. The Baum is also presenting work from Shaw’s series titled Relics. A relic is defined as “something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original culture has disappeared.”

Shaw said that she is “drawn to the shapes and textures of the postindustrial urban landscape and feels compelled to capture them for posterity.” By “honing in on details, textures and light” in both of these series Shaw creates compelling photographs.

Artistic Eye: Works from the Personal Collections of the UCA Art Faculty is a show curated by Hannah Mosby, UCA art history student and Baum Gallery staff member. This exhibition presents works from the collections of nine UCA Art faculty members: David Bailin, Deb Kuster, Holly Laws, Sandra Luckett, Bryan Massey, Barclay McConnell, Donna Pinckley, Gayle Seymour and Liz Smith.

“This exhibition gives UCA students the opportunity to see the different personal styles and preferences of their art professors and at the same time the show offers the broad appeal of artwork chosen by art lovers and practitioners,” Mosby said.

The Baum Gallery of Fine Art is an educational art museum, serving as a learning lab for the students, faculty, and staff at the University of Central Arkansas and as a cultural resource for the entire Arkansas community. The Director and the Faculty Exhibitions Committee select national and international touring exhibitions, sponsor juried student shows, and cooperate across disciplines to curate original exhibits distinctly suited to an academic environment. The gallery hosts exhibitions and events that invite interaction and encourage dialogue about visual art: the creators, studio processes, history, criticism, curation, and cultural contexts. The gallery maintains institutional memberships in the Arkansas Museums Association, The Association of College and University Museums and Galleries, and the American Association of Museums.